Knolly, Is Leverage Realistic at 2–3 Closings a Month?
@Knolly Williams Hey Knolly, I’ve got a question that really only you can answer, based on how you actually built your business. You’ve shared that at one point you were running 10–15 listings a month, and during that phase you made strategic hires such as a transaction coordinator, listing manager, and showing agent, to the point where the business could run fairly hands off. My question is about viability at lower volume. If someone is not aiming to sell 8–10+ homes a month and is instead closing 2–3 deals per month, how realistic is it to offload meaningful parts of the work? I can see how making hires is easier when there is strong, consistent cash flow. But at lower volume, beyond a transaction coordinator, can other roles realistically be hired? How reliable are per transaction or per file roles such as marketing, outreach, showing agent, client management, or listing support? Is leverage still practical at that level, or does it only truly work once volume reaches a certain threshold? I’m mainly trying to understand where leverage actually makes sense and where it does not when someone is not running a high volume operation. I appreciate any insight. For context, I’m asking because after hearing last Sunday’s sermon at church, a few things really challenged my faith and my perspective. I’m not saying I would get back into real estate as a live agent. That’s not what I’m saying. But I will say I’m probably at a 50–50 point right now, whereas I didn’t feel that way before Sunday. I can see multiple paths that can stem from real estate, especially the leverage that comes with it through income, upside, and adjacent opportunities like training or coaching. At the same time, I recognize I don’t have to choose real estate, and that leverage exists in paths outside of it as well, although differently. Because I’m at that 50–50 mark, it feels worth exploring the real viability of whether a business could be built that allows most of the operational work to be offloaded. I’m also realistic about the challenges involved, such as license reactivation costs, CE requirements, brokerage fees(all upfront costs), and the additional marketing costs required to even make the license useful. And then there's the fact of me working an 8-5, with kids and a family.